Dell Client Manager 2.2

Release Notes

Introduction

Dell Client Manager is the most powerful Dell hardware management solution available for Dell Precision* workstations, OptiPlex* desktops, and Latitude* notebooks. The unprecedented integration of Dell OpenManage Client Instrumentation with the Altiris management platform has resulted in a single, remote console. Using Dell Client Manager, you can do the following:

Employ hardware monitoring on client computers that can trigger alerts.

Generate a wide range of reports that help you manage client computers.

Supported Systems

Dell Computer Models that are supported

The following table lists the computers models supported by Dell Client Manager.

Dell Computer Models that Support Alert Standard Format (ASF)

Some Dell models are ASF 2.0 capable. To be ASF 2.0 capable, a computer must have a network adapter and computer BIOS that supports ASF 2.0. Some Dell computers have Broadcom network adapters that support ASF 2.0 while the computer BIOS does not. Models that support ASF 2.0 are identified in the following table with (ASF).

Other information about Alert Standard Format (ASF) and Intel AMT

Dell Client Manager may recognize other models that have ASF-capable network adapters but do not have ASF 2.0 support in the computer BIOS. In these cases, these computers will be listed as capable in the “All Broadcom ASF capable computers” collection. They may also have the Out of Band Task Agent installed on them along with fully supported models. ASF 2.0 functionality will not be available on these computers, and it will not cause any problems to have the agent installed on computers that are not fully supported.

For details on discovering and managing Intel AMT capable computers, see the Out of Band Management Solution Help (see Additional Documentation).

Dell Client Manager installs Altiris® Out of Band Management Solution™ software on the Notification Server. Out of Band Management Solution requires the following:

.NET Framework Version 2.0 installed on the Notification Server computer.Important: The Internet Information Service (IIS) must be configured to use .NET Framework Version 1.0, or the Notification Server will not work.

(Optional) If you want to use the Transport Layer Security (TLS) feature for secure communication between the Notification Server and the client Intel AMT capable computer, the following requirements must be met:

The Notification Server computer must be running Microsoft Windows Server 2003 SP1 or later. TLS does not work with Microsoft Windows 2000 Server.

A certification authority (CA) must be installed and configured in your environment.

Where to Download Dell Client Manager

New installation

Dell Client Manager is a suite of solutions installed on an Altiris Notification Server. If you do not have Altiris Notification Server software installed, you can use the Altiris Installation and Configuration Manager to install both Altiris Notification Server and Dell Client Manager. You can access the utility from www.Dell.com/openmanage > Client Management.

In a small number of cases, certain proxy server configurations may not allow the Altiris Installation and Configuration Manager (AICM) to download the necessary Dell Client Manager installation files. If you are using AICM in an environment that uses a proxy server and either of the following occurs: 1. The AICM program loads successfully but displays an Internet connection error before any install files are downloaded or 2. If AICM is not able to download ANY files after several minutes, you may be experiencing this limitation.

Try using a Web browser to open a Web site to verify that you have an Internet connection. If you cannot open a Web site with a browser, take necessary steps to re-establish an Internet connection (examples: plug in the network cable, adjust Internet connection settings, or enlist the help of a network administrator). If you can establish an Internet connection, retry AICM.

If, after verifying the Internet connection, AICM still cannot download any installation files, invoke the AICM from a computer that is outside of the proxy server environment. When prompted in the AICM wizard, select the option to download files only. Move the downloaded files to the computer inside the proxy environment to which you wish to install Dell Client Manager and run the installation from the copy.

Upgrading Dell Client Manager

Upgrade Issue

Description

Upgrading the client computer from OMCI 6.x

If a computer is updated from version 6.x, OMCI will be automatically uninstalled, the computer will be automatically restarted, and then the current version will be installed.

Upgrading the client computer from OMCI 7.x

If a computer is updated from an earlier version of 7.x, a restart is not performed. However, there may be cases where some components may not install correctly, and in this case, Dell Client Manager will detect this and perform a restart to correctly configure all components.

User rights and OMCI upgrade on client computer

If a computer has OMCI 7.1, and the current logged on user does not have administrator rights, an automatic upgrade to a newer version of OMCI will fail. To upgrade, manually uninstall OMCI 7.1, then use the Dell Client Manager Agent Install policy to reinstall OMCI. Dell Client Manager includes a collection named “All supported Dell Client Computers with Dell OMCI 7.1 Software installed” to help you identify these computers.

Client computer OMCI upgrade limitations

All versions prior to 6.x cannot be upgraded. You must manually uninstall OMCI, and then use the Dell Client Manager Agent Install policy to install the current version.

Unsupported models collections not removed sometimes

The supported Dell models list and the corresponding collections get updated during the Dell Client Manager upgrade. If you have assigned a policy to the collection of Dell models no longer supported, the collection will not be deleted from the Notification Server during the upgrade. A warning can appear in the Notification Server log, which will not affect the normal operation of Dell Client Manager.

Uninstall Dell Client Manager Plus documentation manually

There is no separate documentation pack for Dell Client Manager Plus (previously known as Dell OMCA) in this release. If you are upgrading from a previous version of Dell Client Manager Plus, the Altiris Dell Client Manager Plus Documentation will not be uninstalled. You will have to uninstall the documentation manually.

Upgrade Steps

1. Upgrading to Dell Client Manager 2.2

Note: Upgrading from 2.0 and 2.1 has been fully tested. However, upgrading from 1.x has not been fully tested, though no problems are expected. Upgrading from 1x to 2.1 was fully tested and had no known issues.

Note: We recommend that you disable any enabled Dell Client Manager BIOS and Monitoring policies prior to performing an upgrade.

If you have installed Dell Client Manager Standard and you want to upgrade to Dell Client Manager Plus or Altiris® Client Management Suite™ software, only those solutions that the customer does not already have will be installed. If the customer has older versions of solutions contained in either of these suites, the individual solutions will attempt to upgrade the older versions.

The Dell OMCI version that is included in this release is 7.5 update 7.5.0.638.

You can use the Dell Client Manager Agent Install policy to install OMCI on computers that do not have it already installed. The instructions for doing this are included in the Dell Client Manager Reference Guide (see Additional Documentation).

If you are upgrading from Dell Client Manager 1.0, 1.0 SP1, 2.0 or 2.1 (with the older version of OMCI included), you can upgrade both the Dell Client Manager Agent and Dell OMCI on the managed client computers by using the Dell Client Manager Agent Upgrade policy.

If you have computers that already have a previous version of OMCI installed, the agent install policy will also upgrade the OMCI software. You can upgrade all 6.x and 7.x versions earlier than 7.4.

Agent Uninstallation

There are three Notification Server policies that you can use to uninstall Dell Client Manager Agents:

Dell Client Manager Agent and OMCI Software uninstall

Dell Client Manager Agent uninstall

Dell OMCI Software uninstall

You can uninstall both clients or each one. For example, you may want to uninstall the Dell Client Manager Agent but keep OMCI to use in another way. After that, you may want to uninstall OMCI if you have already uninstalled the Dell Client Manager Agent.

The following new tokens are supported for BIOS settings and inventory:

Ambient Light Sensor

Smart Errors

Speed Step

Hard Disk Acoustic Mode

Wireless Switch Bluetooth Control

Bluetooth Devices

Post MEBx Key Settings

Rear Dual USB

Rear Quad USB

WiFi Locator

External USB Ports

New Task for Setting Power Schemes

The Power Scheme tasks let you collect current power scheme inventory and activate the custom power scheme remotely on client computers. You can also run the task on a schedule (for example, at system startup) to ensure the power options always set according to your company’s energy policy.

Fixes in this Release

The following issues were resolved in this release. For additional information regarding a fixed issue, click the Article ID link.

Fix

Article ID

Known Issues in this Release

Known Issue

Article ID

Localized Documentation not Updated for 2.2

Due to limited updates to the documentation, the localized documentation for 2.2 was not updated and the 2.1 versions are included with 2.2.

The only item not included in the localized documentation is the section titled: Managing Power Scheme Settings

Do Not Perform a Shutdown Operation after a BIOS Upgrade

After performing a BIOS upgrade, the computer must be restarted rather than shut down. If a computer is shut down, the BIOS upgrade will not take affect and you may cause the computer to not start properly.

BIOS Upgrade Policy—When using the BIOS Upgrade policy, and when configuring Power Management options, we recommend that you select “Restart the computer after task.” However, set the “User can defer for n minutes” to 0. If you configure a deferred reboot, a user may shut down the computer before it reboots.

BIOS Upgrade Stand-alone Package—If using a stand-alone package to perform a BIOS upgrade, use the “Restart computer” operation. We also recommend that you do not use “No action required” because a user may manually shut down the computer after the upgrade.

BIOS Password Restrictions

BIOS Passwords set in a BIOS policy have the following restrictions:

Only alphanumeric passwords are supported.

Spaces may not be used. Using spaces will result in incorrect passwords. Example: If you specified a BIOS password as "qwe 123", the password will be set as "qwe".

The maximum length is dependent on the computer model. For example, on Dell Latitude notebooks, the maximum is eight characters. When using the real-time view to provide a password with more than the maximum characters, the password will be truncated to the first number of characters allowed. For example, if the maximum is eight characters, and you provide a 12-character password, only the first eight characters are used. You will need to use that truncated password to use or clear the BIOS password.

These restrictions apply to both setting passwords and password verification.

BIOS Password Numeric Values

When using a computer's BIOS configuration utility (after a start or restart), a BIOS password entered from the numeric keypad on a keyboard (below NumLock) doesn't match a similar password entered from numeric keys under the F1...F10 keys. Dell Client Manager does not recognize the format from the numeric keypad in the BIOS.

If you use the numeric keypad in the BIOS, you cannot match the password using Dell Client Manager.

Scenario 1:

In the BIOS, you turned on NumLock and provide a password from the numeric part of the keyboard (below NumLock).

Using a policy, stand-alone package, or real-time view, attempt to modify this password (or apply some BIOS Settings on the computer where you need to provide a password to change them). Your password (the same as you entered in the BIOS) will not be accepted. It doesn't matter which kind of number keys you use in Dell Client Manager; it won't match.

Scenario 2:

Using a Dell Client Manager policy, stand-alone package, or real-time view, set the BIOS password using numbers (either form of numbers).

Enter BIOS and attempt to enter the same password using numeric keypad keys—it will not match. It will work only if you enter this from the numeric keys (under F1...F10 keys).

Solution:

When using a computer's BIOS configuration utility (after a start or restart), to enter a BIOS password, always use the numeric keys under the F1...F10 keys.

Extracting .HDR File from Non-packaged BIOS Upgrade .exe File

When using DOS-based BIOS upgrade files, you must extract the .hdr file from the downloaded .exe file. You can do this by running filename.exe –writehdrfile.

Some files may not extract correctly. This occurs because the extraction process requires more memory than it's allocated by default. If this occurs, right-click the .exe, click the Memory tab of the .exe file properties, and modify memory allocation values to maximum values for all settings. Then close the properties dialog and re-execute the extraction process.

Asset Tag Length Limitations

If setting the Asset Tag value in the BIOS profile, there is a 10-character limit. If you have more than 10 characters, this will cause the changing of an Asset Tag (of more than 10 characters) to fail.

Example: If you use a %systemname% macro as a value for the Asset Tag, and if %systemname% is more than 10 characters, the set operation will fail.

Asset Tag Macro Limitations

When you use a %username% macro as a value for the Asset Tag when no user is currently logged on the target computer, the set operation will fail.

Boot Order Limitations

Drive Type Limitations—The current boot order functionality cannot distinguish between different hard drive types (IDE, SATA, SCSI) and multiple hard drives of the same. If you have multiple hard drives, you cannot configure a specific hard drive to boot from.

RAID Volumes Not Recognized for Boot Order—RAID volumes are not recognized for boot order configuration. RAID volumes are also ignored if boot order configuration is imported using the Import feature of BIOS Profile Editor.

Text in Dialog Not Localized

When working with Monitoring Policies, the pre-defined action text in the “Create incident” dialog for automated actions is not localized and appears only in English. On Japanese language operating systems, the pre-defined create incident action is not displayed in the dialog. However, you can create your own.

BIOS Upgrade not Automatically Performed with Password-locked Screen Saver

If using an Upgrade BIOS policy for a client computer that has a password-locked screen saver, by default it will prevent the computer from automatically restarting and flashing the BIOS. (If the computer is manually rebooted, it will then flash the BIOS). In the Upgrade BIOS policy, there is an option (Force running applications to quit upon restart) that is cleared by default. If you select this option, the computer will restart and flash the BIOS automatically.

Dell Client Manager Real-Time View Showing for Non-Dell Computers

When viewing the Resource Manager for a non-Dellcomputer and viewing the Real-Time tab, the Dell Client Manager view is visible. You may see a non-functional credentials dialog and other errors. We recommend not using this view for non-Dell computers.

Upgrade BIOS on Dell Latitude 131L Before Managing the Computer

Hardware inventory collection, monitoring policies, and stand-alone packages fail to run on Dell Latitude 131L computers with BIOS version 1.7 or earlier. To manage the computers, manually upgrade the BIOS to version 2.1 or later by running a BIOS upgrade package on the client computer. The BIOS upgrade package can be obtained from the Dell Web site (http://support.dell.com/).

BIOS Cannot be Upgraded on Dell Latitude 131L

You cannot upgrade the BIOS to versions 2.1 or earlier on Dell Latitude 131L remotely, using a BIOS Upgrade policy. You have to upgrade the BIOS manually by running a BIOS upgrade package on the client computer.

Dell is currently working on resolving the issue. Check the Dell Web site if a newer version of BIOS is available (http://support.dell.com/).

BIOS Settings Cannot be Changed on Dell Latitude 131L

BIOS settings on Dell Latitude 131L cannot be changed, either by using a BIOS Settings Policy or Real-Time view.

BIOS Cannot be Upgraded on Dell OptiPlex 740

You cannot upgrade the BIOS to versions 1.0.5 or earlier on Dell OptiPlex 740 remotely, using a BIOS Upgrade policy.

Dell is currently working on resolving the issue. Check the Dell Web site if a newer version of BIOS is available (http://support.dell.com/).

Incorrect Message in the Tooltip Help

In the BIOS Profile dialog, the tooltip help for the "Front USB Ports" item should read "Enables or Disables the USB ports on the front of the chassis."

ASF Out-of-Band Power Management Limitation

Dell Latitude D531, D630, D631, and D830 notebooks with ASF 2.0 capability do not support Reboot/Reset power management command using ASF technology—only Power On and Power Off power actions are supported.

Time is Displayed in Incorrect Format in the Real-Time View

The controls, which let you set date and time on the target computer (Example: Extended Warranty controls) display time in the 24-hour format, but wrongly display the "AM" and "PM" designations. Ignore these designations.

Localized Reports Display Two Instances of Tasks

When you use a localized version of Dell Client Manager, two instances of BIOS Upgrade and BIOS Settings tasks appear in dashboards and reports—one in English and the other in a local language.

ASF Configuration takes an excessive amount of time to complete or times out on Vista x64

ASF Configuration/Inventory tasks take a long time to complete or times out completely.

By default, documentation files are installed in the following directory on the Altiris® Notification Server™ computer:

C:\Program Files\Altiris\Notification Server\NSCap\Help.

The following documentation is provided with Dell Client Manager:

Dell Client Manager Reference Guide

Altiris Information Resources

Source

What Information it Includes

Location

Altiris Documentation

Information about new features, update instructions, and known issues for each release. Includes Altiris formal documentation such as release notes, help, reference guides, best practice articles, and technical reference articles.